South Africa abolishes apartheid in the 1960s?
- Thread starter Vinization
- Start date
Coulsdon Eagle
Monthly Donor
Probably the dominant cricket teams from mid-60's to early 70's - but, I would add, IMHO outside the sub-continent. A lack of a class spinner or three would be their only weakness.
marktaha
Banned
If Smuts had insisted on equal numbers in each constituency 1948 would have gone the other way.
Precisely. UP won the most votes, but lost on constituencies, including Smuts own
Would a South Africa that kicks the National Party out three decades earlier also let go of Namibia at the same time, or would its government be unwilling to do so for whatever reason?
Doubt they would let it go.
Afterall there are whites living there, and the South African government would rather not want them to leave by granting independence. Plus the diamonds there are good enough not.
Overall, a South Africa that moves to end Apartheid earlier would have drfited towards a highly decentralized federation. Pursuant to that, Namibia gets formally annexed and partitioned into several states within the federation.
Sure but 1948 it was him, or Malan and apartheid, and there's nothing suggesting his successors like De Villiers Graaf opposed continued occupation of Namibia
I have always enjoyed these types of timelines. Over the years, there has been a lot of discussion about how to do this. Here is my list of things that have been discussed.
1) The German colonists in German South Africa stay as in the original timeline. There is an encouragement of German immigration in the 20s and 30s to increase the number of whites in South Africa.
2) Rhodesia does join SA and increases the number of British whites.
3) Smuts planned to bring Displaced Persons from Europe to settle in South Africa. Since many were Poles, Czech, and others who could not go back home due to the Soviet occupation of their countries, they were solid anti-communists. Yet the policies of the apartheid party sounded too close to Nazism for them to join that party.
4) An open door policy toward refugees from the various anti-Soviet uprisings in East Europe after WW2.
5) An open door policy toward Whites leaving the various European African colonies as they were granted independence.
6) An open door policy toward educated and skilled Whites emigrating from Europe after WW2.
7) There has been some discussion of SA buying from Portugal the southern half of Mozambique. This would increase the size of SA and would allow for a larger economy.
The increased number of whites and the growing SA economy would make it easier to prevent apartheid from starting. If it did start, then it would be easier to abolish over time. Having grown up in the Southern United States, the parts of the South that had booming economies with lots of jobs had an easier time with ending segregation. It is easier to divide up a growing economic pie than a shrinking economic pie.
1) The German colonists in German South Africa stay as in the original timeline. There is an encouragement of German immigration in the 20s and 30s to increase the number of whites in South Africa.
2) Rhodesia does join SA and increases the number of British whites.
3) Smuts planned to bring Displaced Persons from Europe to settle in South Africa. Since many were Poles, Czech, and others who could not go back home due to the Soviet occupation of their countries, they were solid anti-communists. Yet the policies of the apartheid party sounded too close to Nazism for them to join that party.
4) An open door policy toward refugees from the various anti-Soviet uprisings in East Europe after WW2.
5) An open door policy toward Whites leaving the various European African colonies as they were granted independence.
6) An open door policy toward educated and skilled Whites emigrating from Europe after WW2.
7) There has been some discussion of SA buying from Portugal the southern half of Mozambique. This would increase the size of SA and would allow for a larger economy.
The increased number of whites and the growing SA economy would make it easier to prevent apartheid from starting. If it did start, then it would be easier to abolish over time. Having grown up in the Southern United States, the parts of the South that had booming economies with lots of jobs had an easier time with ending segregation. It is easier to divide up a growing economic pie than a shrinking economic pie.
And it's easier to grow the economy when more of the population can aspire to middle class lifestyle, buy more consumer goods - and when your government is spending less treasure and young men on internal security
I think many Europeans (from the whole continent) wouldn't have found the NP's policies that odious, what would have turned them off more would have been its Afrikaner nationalism.
Andrew Feinstein, a former ANC MP and a Jew (which is relevant here), relates in his autobiography about his time in Parliament how his father or uncle (I forgot which) said of apartheid: 'If they weren't doing it to the blacks they would be doing it to us.' (i.e. Jews).
Last edited: